Leah turned her head at the sound of someone calling her. "Hey Adi." She said, giving him a smile back. She was not ready to say goodbye to the Hufflepuff family yet. It would not be a permanent goodbye of course, as she would see them all after the summer. All of them except for the seventh years.

"Looking forward to the summer?" Leah asked Adi. She certainly was. She was tired of wearing thick clothes everyday, everywhere. But hey, at least it was getting warmer now. And was that icicle melting outside the window over there?


Oops, maybe she had scared the little girl. Correction: not-so-little-girl. After the feast Hayden would no longer be a firstie, at least that was what Leah thought. She liked Hayden, she was always so nice and sweet. She returned the smile eagerly.

"I can't believe the term's nearly over, can you?" She said. Leah was about to ask whether the younger girl had a good first year or not but decided not to, she probably had enough of that question already. She knew from her end of term feast the previous year. Merlin, that was a year ago? When people started ageing and all that? She was going to be a third year. That was new.


For a moment, Leah was lost in thought about well, nothing. She stared at her empty plate in front of her for a while, only to be jolted back to earth by - Hazel. "Oh hi Hazel," she said, smiling without trying to at the sight of her friend.

"I've been great. Being stuck inside the castle is not half bad, after all." The Hufflepuff said. It was good to be optimistic. "It was a good year, huh? Apart from the cold?" Leah said.


Hmm, another voice. There were hundreds of voices bouncing off the walls in the great hall, but Leah could always tell when someone was talking to her. She shifted her attention to the girl and grinned. She definitely remembered seeing her in lessons, it was.. Lux!

"Hi," she said with a wave. "I'm Leah." The badger said as Hazel introduced herself too. Lux probably would not know her, she was not a popular girl after all. "I don't think so, my family makes plan for the holiday when we all get together." The visit to Egypt last summer was cool, but Leah was hoping to stay in Britain this year. Then the word family hit her. She had not contacted her parents for a VERY long time. It was not her fault though, who can actually control weather?

Since the cold had cleared slightly, maybe Horatio would be able to carry a letter back home for her this evening.


While waiting for the two other girls to talk about their summer plans, Leah turned to yet another Hufflepuff. "Hi, er.. Kace?" She said brightly, waving. Apologies if she got the name wrong, really sorry. She was not only bad with names, but was also not natural with the nodding gesture that the older boy did, which she only did in classes when she was 'not allowed to talk but needed to show that she understood'.

The soon-to-be third year was glad Kace started the conversation. Her ability to just start talking away had decreased since her start of first year. "You bet I am. Not that I've got exciting plans right now, but after the couple months of summer I'll be a third year!" It only seemed like yesterday when she rode the tiny boat to cross the black lake on the way to school. "What about you? How're you doing?" She asked, smiling.